Product Description
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process.We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
Vincenzo Bellini's physical beauty, boundless success, and untimely death at the age of thirty-three combined to give him instant mythical status. In John Rosselli's new account, the first in English in twenty-five years, of his life and music, a more accurate view of Bellini emerges. Carefully sorting through fact, legend and even spurious documentation, Rosselli reassesses Bellini's personality, his relationships, and his short but dazzling career in Naples, Milan and Paris. He introduces the operatic world of the early nineteenth century, the singers of Bellini's roles, and, above all he explains the writing and performance of the operas themselves. What emerges from this level-headed biography is a portrait of an otherwise normal young man with uncommon musical gifts. ... Read more

Product Description
This Book Is In Italian. ... Read more

Product Description
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process.We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
This Book Is In Italian. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
This Book Is In Italian And In English. ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Barely adequate piano reduction of a monumental work
This will do if you are interested in practicing the opera where there is no orchestra present, which I guess will be for most people, the usual situation.
Contrary to what the previous reviewer mentioned, Norma is one of the greatest peaks of all opera, not just Italian. Indeed Wagner placed it at the very top of the entire Italian repertoire of the 19th century. To speak of Bellini's 'inadequate' orchestration is to totally miss the point in his goals of achieving music drama. Bellini can provide rich orchestrations, as we can see from the superb finale of Il Pirata. His decision to orchestrate Norma lightly was to allow the voice to carry out the drama, not the orchestra. Wagner and Bizet gave up their attempts to re-orchestrate Norma, conceding that the original was the most appropriate.
But orchestrations aside, the monumental heights attained by Bellini in Norma has never been equaled by Puccini. The classical purity of the music, the close relation between the text and the music, and the opera's relation to Greek tragedy has already been noted by Wagner. The 2nd half of Act 2 alone stands as one of the greatest crowning glories of music drama. To look for Puccini is Bellini is futile.

nice, but I'm still loyal to Puccini
Like most Italian operas,this opera contains delightful melodies and delightful harmony.

Yes, occasionally there is nice counterpoint, too.On pages 52-55, the orchestra plays the march song while the chorus sings something else.On page 86, we hear a melody first in isolation, then simultaneously with another melody.Unfortunately, both melodies could not be contained in the piano score.

However, the opera lacks the motive play and the variety of orchestral accompaniment which marks a truly great opera.

Owners of the Callas-Corelli recording, watch for cuts from page 44 to 48, page 76 to 80, and page 106 to 107.Also, the endings of Act I and Act II are different. ... Read more